Camp Harmony: For once, Browns enter season with no distractions

Pro Bowl wideout Braylon Edwards has not been to the playoffs in three seasons as a pro. Michael J. LeBrecht II/SI Don Banks's Mailbag Submit a comment or question to Don Banks. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND Follow Don Banks on Twitter

BEREA, Ohio -- Braylon Edwards admits nothing in his first three NFL training camps really came close to preparing him for what the Cleveland Browns are experiencing this summer. Until this year, Edwards thought the Browns preseason would always be filled with more questions than answers, and played out amid an ever-present backdrop of controversy, distraction, or football misfortune.

But that was then, and this is now. Cleveland has Camp Harmony unfolding in northeast Ohio, and as July draws to a close, the Browns are on, by far, the smoothest, quietest preseason ride they've ever enjoyed among their 10 seasons back in the NFL. I made a stop at the team's suburban complex this week, and best I can tell, there's nothing going on juicier than the battle to decide the fourth cornerback slot.

"It feels good, because I think every year here there has been something negative to focus on,'' said Edwards, the team's first-round pick in 2005. "You'd come to camp every year and there'd be some huge distraction to take the attention away from the football playing. For a change, all the talk is about the Cleveland Browns playing football. That's it.

"It's not a case of worrying about this guy not coming to camp, or this guy being hurt, or this guy wanting more money, or who's going to be the quarterback, or is the coach going to stay around? All that ever did was take away from the football, and the overall focus.''

The near-constant calamity that was Cleveland football before last season left Edwards disillusioned and pining for an opportunity to become an ex-Brown. He told me he had basically made up his mind to get out of town the first chance he got, which was after his rookie contract expired following the 2009 season. He was just doing time, waiting for his parole from football purgatory.

"I'd be lying if I said I thought it would happen like it has here in the past year,'' Edwards said. "I was on the verge of not wanting to play here any more, dealing with the fans, and not winning, I was like, 'All right, I'll get through with my contract and I'll see what happens.' But now we're on the verge of something special. We had a good year last year, and this is definitely a football town, and it's turning back around. This is a fun place to play when you're winning.''

The football renaissance underway in Cleveland is one of the NFL's most irresistible centerpiece stories as the 2008 season starts to unfold. The Browns are coming off their first 10-win season in their reincarnated form, with five primetime games on their '08 schedule, and their playoff-starved fans chanting "Super Bowl'' at this month's opening training camp practice. The expectation level is sky high, presenting its own set of challenges, but after where Cleveland has been since 1999, no one within the Browns is complaining. How could they?

"What I told the organization before we got started this year was, 'Hey, it beats the alternative,' '' Browns general manager Phil Savage told me, just after a scorching Tuesday afternoon camp workout. "This is what we've been wanting. This is where you want to be. Now you've got to grit your teeth, keep your poise and whether it goes good, bad or indifferent, we kind of know this is what we're supposed to be doing. So let's do it.''

I found plenty of "let's do it'' attitude among the Browns-folk I talked to this week. The anticipation for this season is palpable throughout the building, While last year ended with the disappointment of becoming just the third 10-6 team to miss the NFL playoffs since 1999, the Browns' key offseason moves -- trades for defensive linemen Shaun Rogers and Corey Williams and the signing of receiver Donte' Stallworth -- jacked the decibel level to new heights.